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EHAM QTH QRZ ARRL HRO ICOM KENWOOD YAESU ELBO ROOM COMMENTS TUESDAY EDITION: I am out the door early getting my wife to the hospital for a CT scan in prep for her lung procedure tomorrow, a biopsy of the lump in her lung... SAQ Grimeton On the Air for 100th Anniversary July 2ndOn July 2nd, Grimeton Radio Station in Sweden will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its inaugural transmission. Officially inaugurated on Juy 2nd, 1925, the 200kW Alternator made contact with Long Island in the US.
Callsign SAQ will be on the air on VLF 17.2 kHz CW on July 2, 2025. First Transmission
Second transmission
A test transmission will occur on July 1 between 13:00 – 16:00 CEST. Tickets are available for those wishing to attend in person. Transmissions will be streamed on YouTube. The amateur radio station SK6SAQ will be on the air as well:
Source: The Alexander association Ham Radio Reports Fire; Helicopter Crew Extinguishes Just in TimeAmateur radio operators preparing for a contest sponsored by ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® used ham radio to report a forest fire just before winds picked up. By John Ross,
KD8IDJ With the help of amateur radio operators, a potential wildfire was averted in California on June 12. Amateur “ham” radio is a thriving technical hobby with members active all over the world. Hams often operate from remote locations, and several of them wound up in the right place at the right time while preparing to participate in the 2025 ARRL June VHF Contest. Robert "Bobby" Debevec, W6IWN, and Jacob T. "Jake" Graham, KC7WXD, both ARRL members from the Reno, Nevada area, were hiking on the Grouse Ridge Trail in California, a section of the Tahoe National Forest. In addition to getting ready for the contest, they had hoped to also activate several Summits on the Air (SOTA) locations. Their day of using the Amateur Radio Service for recreation was going well until they saw smoke near the Black Buttes area and had to use it for its utility value. Debevec captured the event on video, and posted it to his YouTube channel. “I was surprised to see smoke ahead of us,” said Graham. “As we got closer, it was clear there had been a lighting hit several days ago and we could also see flames.” Wireless service is spotty in portions of the eastern Sierra, and they didn’t have a cell signal, so Debevec used his handheld ham radio to report the fire on a nearby repeater. In just seconds, Dan Patterson, W6AI, responded back. He was monitoring the Nevada County Amateur Radio Club linked repeater system in Grass Valley, California, and heard the call. He took the GPS coordinates from Graham and notified the U.S. Forest Service. “We were monitoring the U.S Forest Service and it only took about 10 minutes for them to dispatch a helicopter to the area,” said Graham. “We watched four firefighters rappel down followed by a pack of equipment. The pair then walked closer to the area and started talking to the crew, who thanked them for the report. “They put the out the fires but radioed for a helicopter water drop, before they left on foot, with the gear, to a nearby pickup site,” added Debevec. After the firefighters left, the winds picked up dramatically. Had that happened earlier, the outcome could have much worse. Amateur radio serves communities before and When All Else Fails®, and having a thriving group of trained operators active in amateur radio allowed it to facilitate emergency communications that saved the day.
My Alinco 330 power supply which I have never hut off for over 7 years finally needed a a fan replacement, I couldn't believe how much dust was inside the cabinet. It was on the floor next to my bed powering the Yaesu FTM400....The fan was just $10.00 on eBay delivered, still waiting for it. MONDAY EDITION: Busy weekend with the club meeting on Saturday and Fathers Day on Sunday, nice times were had by all....Would not want to be this guy....
13 Colonies Event Founder Passing the Reins After 16 YearsThe 13 Colonies 2025, a popular summer operating event, will take place less than a month from now, on July 1, 9:00 AM to July 7, midnight EDT (July 1 – 1300 UTC – July 8 – 0400 UTC). This year the event will honor founder Ken Villone, KU2US, who is passing the torch to Tony Jones, N4ATJ. Villone has led the event for 16 years by working with state and bonus station coordinators and has grown from making approximately 12,000 contacts in 2009 to making 292,496 contacts around the world in 2024. This year, one station will be operating in each of the 13 original British colonies, K2A – K2M, along with three bonus stations — WM3PEN, Philadelphia; GB13COL, England, and TM13COL, France — each representing their city, state, or country’s role in America’s colonial period. Villone said event actually started 2008, right after he finished participating in the ARRL Sweepstakes. Read more American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources – Read More Morse Maven—Your New Morse Code Learning CompanionEditor's Note: Morse Maven takes advantage of Amateur Radio Daily's Creative Commons license to utilize content from this website as training material within the app. —K4HCK By Dav (M0WDV), the author of Morse Maven I'm thrilled to introduce Morse Maven, an app I’ve poured the last 12 months into, designed to guide you from your very first dit to fluent CW conversations. Why Morse Maven? My Quest for a Better Way to LearnMy own Morse journey started about three years ago. Like many, I turned to the app stores, downloading various trainers. It was a mixed bag – some good, some not so much, each with its own quirks. I began with an app that played Morse sounds, and I'd diligently type what I heard. Progress! Or so I thought. The "aha!" (or perhaps, "oops!") moment came when I realized I wasn't truly hearing the Morse in my head. Instead, my brain, in its clever quest for shortcuts, had simply mapped the sounds to my QWERTY keyboard-typing fingers! I was teaching my fingers, not my ears, and I had to read what I’d typed to understand the Morse. This highlighted a crucial flaw: typing could be a crutch, not a learning aid in those early stages. I imagined an app that would let me silently recognise characters, only flagging those I struggled with, allowing the software to intelligently tailor the practice. Later, as I aimed to boost my speed, I discovered the fantastic Morse Code Ninja resources on YouTube – hours of words at various speeds. Invaluable, yes, but with a couple of hitches. Listening in the background without YouTube Premium was a no-go, and after a while, those brain cells started finding shortcuts again, this time memorising the sequence of words ("Aha, 'ready' is always followed by 'must' in this bit!"). I was learning the playlist, not truly decoding fresh Morse. I knew there had to be a more effective, flexible, and truly adaptive way. And so, Morse Maven was conceived. Morse Maven: The App I Wished I HadI set out to build the tool I needed at each stage of my learning: from absolute beginner to someone pushing for higher speeds (I’m now using the app daily in the advanced training modes). This isn't just another Morse app; it's a comprehensive learning and practice partner, designed from the ground up based on real learning experiences and cognitive insights. Smart Learning Under the HoodMorse Maven isn't just about playing sounds; it's about how you learn them.
A Path for Every LearnerThe app is structured to grow with you:
Your Journey to Morse Mastery Starts NowLearning Morse code requires commitment and practice. There are no magic bullets. But Morse Maven is designed to make that practice as effective, accessible, and enjoyable as possible. Whether you have five minutes or an hour, you can dive in and make progress. Visit https://morsemaven.com/ to learn more about the app. Source: Morse Maven open_in_new
FRIDAY EDITION: Online coax loss calculators that use SWR as one of the inputs certainly are convenient but can you trust the results? Alternative tools which are much more accurate are readily available....Today's dumbass award goes to this knucklehead.... Let’s Buy Commodore! Well, Somebody Is.When a man wearing an Atari T-shirt tells you he’s buying Commodore it sounds like the plot for an improbable 1980s movie in which Nolan Bushnell and Jack Tramiel do battle before a neon synthwave sunset to a pulsating chiptune soundtrack. But here on the screen there’s that guy doing just that, It’s [Retro Recipes], and in the video below he’s assembling a licensing deal for the Commodore brand portfolio from the distant descendant of the Commodore of old. It’s a fascinating story and we commend him for tracing a path through the mess that unfolded for Commodore in the 1990s. We tried the same research path with a friend a few years ago and ended up with an anonymous Dutch paper company that wouldn’t answer our calls, so we’re impressed. In conjunction with several other players in the Commodore retrocomputing world he’s trying to assemble a favourable percentage deal for manufacturers of new parts, computers, and other goodies, and we’re pleased to see that it’s for the smaller player as much as for the industry giant. When looking at a story like this though, it’s important not to let your view become clouded by those rose tinted glasses. While it’s great that we’re likely to see a bunch of new Commodore-branded Commodore 64s and parts, there are many pitfalls in taking it beyond that. We’ve seen the Commodore logo on too many regrettable licensed products in the past, and we fear it might be too tempting for it to end up on yet another disappointing all-in-one video game or just another budget PC. If something new comes out under the Commodore brand we’d like it to be really special, exploiting new ground in the way the Amiga did back in the day. We can hope, because the alternative has dragged other famous brands through the mud in recent years. If you want an insight into the roots of the original Commodore’s demise, have a read of our Hackaday colleague [Bil Herd]’s autobiography. Look to the Sky With This Simple Plane TrackerDo you ever get tired of stressing your neck looking for planes in the sky? Worry not! Here is a neat and cheap Arduino/Ras Pi project to keep your neck sore free! [BANK ANGLE] presents a wonderfully simple plane tracking system using an affordable camera and basic microcontrollers. The bulk of the system relies on a cheap rotating security camera that gets dissected to reveal its internals. Here stepper control wires can be found and connected to the control boards required to allow an Arduino nano to tell the motors when and where to spin. Of course, the camera system doesn’t just look everywhere until it finds a plane, a Raspberry Pi takes in data from local ADS-B data to know where a nearby plane is. After that, all that’s left is a nifty overlay to make the professional look. Combining all these creates a surprisingly capable system that gives information on the aircraft’s azimuth, elevation, and distance. If you want to try your hand at making your own version of [BLANK ANGLE]’s tracker, check out his GitHub page. Of course, tracking planes gets boring after a while so why not try tracking something higher with this open-source star tracker?
Uranium glass capacitor... THURSDAY EDITION: Sunny start to the day, I was thinking about the boat but it wil be a few weeks. My son is taking his wife and kids to Africa on a 14 day safari. When he gets home we will get it on the mooring, the boating season seems to get shorter each year....The U.S. Army will celebrate its 250th birthday on June 14, 2025. This significant milestone commemorates the Army's distinguished service to the nation, with the central theme for the celebration being “This We’ll Defend”. ..... Making a Backyard Observatory Replete With Retractable RoofHere’s one for our astronomy geeks. Our hacker [arrow] has made their own observatory! This particular video is a bit over ten minutes long and is basically a montage; there is no narration or explanation given, but you can watch clear progress being made and the ultimate success of the backyard facility. Obviously the coolest thing about this building is that the roof can be moved, but those telescope mounts look pretty sexy too. About halfway through the video the concrete slab that was supporting one metal mounting pole gets torn up so that two replacements can be installed, thereby doubling the capacity of the observatory from one telescope to two. If you’re an astronomy wonk you might enjoy some of [arrow]’s other videos. Maybe with their observatory [arrow] will solve the problem of dark matter. We’ve covered heaps of astronomy stuff here at Hackaday before including how to make your own telescope right down to the glass and the world’s highest altitude infrared telescope.
The following are updates from recently published newsletters focused on ham radio.
Ria's Ham Shack: A
preview of Dayton
Hamvention
Random Wire Review:
Issue 130
Zero Retries 0201
Experimental Radio
News 12
Radio Silence [068]
The Communicator
May-June 2025 [PDF]
The Logger's Bark
May 2025 [PDF]
WEDNESDAY EDITION: Open house at the club this morning, Field Day preperation. We will be having the event at our club but outside running batteries and not using any club antennas...we wil jse the kitchen though as this is a social event and we will be serving food all day. This club does not take contestng or anything els seriously but sure can eat free food... A Brief History of Fuel Cells
If we asked you to think of a device that converts a chemical reaction into electricity, you’d probably say we were thinking of a battery. That’s true, but there is another device that does this that is both very similar and very different from a battery: the fuel cell. In a very simple way, you can think of a fuel cell as a battery that consumes the chemicals it uses and allows you to replace those chemicals so that, as long as you have fuel, you can have electricity. However, the truth is a little more complicated than that. Batteries are energy storage devices. They run out when the energy stored in the chemicals runs out. In fact, many batteries can take electricity and reverse the chemical reaction, in effect recharging them. Fuel cells react chemicals to produce electricity. No fuel, no electricity. Superficially, the two devices seem very similar. Like batteries, fuel cells have an anode and a cathode. They also have an electrolyte, but its purpose isn’t the same as in a conventional battery. Typically, a catalyst causes fuel to oxidize, creating positively charged ions and electrons. These ions move from the anode to the cathode, and the electrons move from the anode, through an external circuit, and then to the cathode, so electric current occurs. As a byproduct, many fuel cells produce potentially useful byproducts like water. NASA has the animation below that shows how one type of cell works. HistorySir William Grove seems to have made the first fuel cell in 1838, publishing in The London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science. His fuel cell used dilute acid, copper sulphate, along with sheet metal and porcelain. Today, the phosphoric acid fuel cell is similar to Grove’s design. The Bacon fuel cell is due to Francis Thomas Bacon and uses alkaline fuel. Modern versions of this are in use today by NASA and others. Although Bacon’s fuel cell could produce 5 kW, it was General Electric in 1955 that started creating larger units. GE chemists developed an ion exchange membrane that included a platinum catalyst. Named after the developers, the “Grubb-Niedrach” fuel cell flew in Gemini space capsules. By 1959, a fuel cell tractor prototype was running, as well as a welding machine powered by a Bacon cell. One of the reasons spacecraft often use fuel cells is that many cells take hydrogen and oxygen as fuel and put out electricity and water. There are already gas tanks available, and you can always use water. Types of Fuel CellsNot all fuel cells use the same fuel or produce the same byproducts. At the anode, a catalyst ionizes the fuel, which produces a positive ion and a free electron. The electrolyte, often a membrane, can pass ions, but not the electrons. That way, the ions move towards the cathode, but the electrons have to find another way — through the load — to get to the cathode. When they meet again, a reaction with more fuel and a catalyst produces the byproduct: hydrogen and oxygen form water. Most common cells use hydrogen and oxygen with an anode catalyst of platinum and a cathode catalyst of nickel. The voltage output per cell is often less than a volt. However, some fuel cells use hydrocarbons. Diesel, methanol, and other hydrocarbons can produce electricity and carbon dioxide as a byproduct, along with water. You can even use some unusual organic inputs, although to be fair, those are microbial fuel cells. Common types include:
In addition to technology, you can consider some fuel cells as stationary — typically producing a lot of power for consumption by some power grid — or mobile. Using fuel cells in stationary applications is attractive partly because they have no moving parts. However, you need a way to fuel it and — if you want efficiency — you need a way to harness the waste heat produced. It is possible, for example, to use solar power to turn water into gas and then use that gas to feed a fuel cell. It is possible to use the heat directly or to convert it to electricity in a more conventional way. SpaceVery early fuel cells — starting with Gemini in 1962 — used a proton exchange membrane. However, in 1967, NASA started using Nafion from DuPont, which was improved over the old membranes. However, alkaline cells had vastly improved power density, and from Apollo on, these cells, using a potassium hydroxide electrolyte, were standard issue. Even the Shuttle had fuel cells. Russian spacecraft also had fuel cells, starting with a liquid oxygen-hydrogen cell used on the Soviet Lunar Orbital Spacecraft (LOK). The shuttle’s power plant measured 14 x 15 x 45 inches and weighed 260 pounds. They were installed under the payload bay, just aft of the crew compartment. They drew cryogenic gases from nearby tanks and could provide 12 kW continuously, and up to 16 kW. However, they typically were taxed at about 50% capacity. Each orbiter’s power plant contained 96 individual cells connected to achieve a 28-volt output. Going MobileThere have been attempts to make fuel cell cars, but with the difficulty of delivering, storing, and transporting hydrogen, there has been resistance. The Toyota Mirai, for example, costs $57,000, yet owners sued because they couldn’t obtain hydrogen. Some buses use fuel cells, and a small number of trains (including the one mentioned in the video below). Surprisingly, there is a market for forklifts using fuel cells. The clean output makes them ideal for indoor operation. Batteries? They take longer to charge and don’t work well in the cold. Fuel cells don’t mind the cold, and you can top them off in three minutes. There have been attempts to put fuel cells into any vehicle you can imagine. Airplanes, motorcycles, and boats sporting fuel cells have all made the rounds. Can You DIY?We have seen a few fuel cell projects, but they all seem to vanish over time. In theory, it shouldn’t be that hard, unless you demand commercial efficiency. However, it can be done, as you can see in the video below. If you make a fuel cell, be sure to send us a tip so we can spread the word. Field Testing An Antenna, Using A FieldThe ARRL used to have a requirement that any antenna advertised in their publications had to have real-world measurements accompanying it, to back up any claims of extravagant performance. I’m told that nowadays they will accept computer simulations instead, but it remains true that knowing what your antenna does rather than just thinking you know what it does gives you an advantage. I was reminded of this by a recent write-up in which the performance of a mylar sheet as a ground plane was tested at full power with a field strength meter, because about a decade ago I set out to characterise an antenna using real-world measurements and readily available equipment. I was in a sense field testing it, so of course the first step of the process was to find a field. A real one, with cows.
Walking Round And Round A Field In The Name Of ScienceThe process I was intending to follow was simple enough. Set up the antenna in the middle of the field, have it transmit some RF, and measure the signal strength at points along a series of radial lines away from it I’d end up with a spreadsheet, from which I could make a radial plot that would I hoped, give me a diagram showing its performance. It’s a rough and ready methodology, but given a field and a sunny afternoon, not one that should be too difficult. I was more interested in the process than the antenna, so I picked up my trusty HB9CV two-element 144MHz antenna that I’ve stood and pointed at the ISS many times to catch SSTV transmissions. It’s made from two phased half-wave radiators, but it can be seen as something similar to a two-element Yagi array. I ran a long mains lead oput to a plastic garden table with the HB9CV attached, and set up a Raspberry Pi whose clock would produce the RF. My receiver would be an Android tablet with an RTL-SDR receiver. That’s pretty sensitive for this purpose, so my transmitter would have to be extremely low powered. Ideally I would want no significant RF to make it beyond the boundary of the field, so I gave the Pi a resistive attenuator network designed to give an output of around 0.03 mW, or 30 μW. A quick bit of code to send my callsign as CW periodically to satisfy my licence conditions, and I was off with the tablet and a pen and paper. Walking round the field in a polar grid wasn’t as easy as it might seem, but I had a very long tape measure to help me. A Lot Of Work To Tell Me What I Already KnewI ended up with a page of figures, and then a spreadsheet which I’m amused to still find in the depths of my project folder. It contains a table of angles of incidence to the antenna versus metres from the antenna, and the data points are the figure in (uncalibrated) mV that the SDR gave me for the carrier at that point. The resulting polar plot shows the performace of the antenna at each angle, and unsurprisingly I proved to myself that a HB9CV is indeed a directional antenna. My experiment was in itself not of much use other than to prove to myself I could characterise an antenna with extremely basic equipment. But then again it’s possible that in times past this might have been a much more difficult task, so knowing I can do it at all is an interesting conclusion. MONDAY EDITION: Will the balloon make it around the globe? It's hallway across the ocean now and heading for the good old USA.The purple dots are stations that can hear the balloons transmitter on WSPR... Determine Fundamental Constants with LEDs and a MultimeterThere are (probably) less than two dozen fundemental constants that define the physics of our universe. Determining the value of them might seem like the sort of thing for large, well funded University labs, but many can be determined to reasonable accuracy on the benchtop, as [Marb’s Lab] proves with this experiment to find the value of Planck’s Constant. [Marv’s Lab] setup is on a nice PCB that uses a rotary switch to select between 5 LEDs of different wavelengths, with banana plugs for the multi-meter so he can perform a linear regression on the relation between energy and frequency to find the constant. He’s also thoughtfully put connectors in place for current measurement, so the volt-current relationship of the LEDs can be characterized in a second experiment. Overall, this is a piece of kit that would not be out of place in any high school or undergraduate physics lab.
To use this to determine Planck’s constant, you need to use Planck’s relation for the energy of a photon: E = hf Get some Energies (E), get some energies (f), and bam! You can generate a value for h, Planck’s constant. The energies? Well, that’s a very easy measurement, but it requires some understanding of how LEDs work. [Marb] is simply measuring the voltage needed to just barely light the LED of a given frequency. (For frequency, he’s relying on the LED datasheets.) That translates to the energy of the photon because it corresponds to the energy (in electron volts) required to jump electrons over the bandgap of the semiconductor in the LED– that’s how the light is generated. Those photons will have the energy of the gap, in theory. In practice, the LEDs do not emit perfectly monochromatic light; there’s a normal distribution centered on the color they’re “supposed” to be, but it is fairly tight. That’s probably why is able to [Marv] get to within 5% of the canonical value, which is better than we’d expect. This isn’t the first time we’ve determined Planck’s constant; it’s quite possible to get to much higher accuracy. The last time we featured this particular technique, the error was 11%. 13 Colonies Event Founder Passing the Reins After 16 YearsThe 13 Colonies 2025, a popular summer operating event, will take place less than a month from now, on July 1, 9:00 AM to July 7, midnight EDT (July 1 – 1300 UTC – July 8 – 0400 UTC). This year the event will honor founder Ken Villone, KU2US, who is passing the torch to Tony Jones, N4ATJ. Villone has led the event for 16 years by working with state and bonus station coordinators and has grown from making approximately 12,000 contacts in 2009 to making 292,496 contacts around the world in 2024. This year, one station will be operating in each of the 13 original British colonies, K2A – K2M, along with three bonus stations — WM3PEN, Philadelphia; GB13COL, England, and TM13COL, France — each representing their city, state, or country’s role in America’s colonial period. Villone said event actually started 2008, right after he finished participating in the ARRL Sweepstakes. “I remembered how fun it was but I could not figure out why there were not more of these types of special events on the air,” said Villone. “So I decided to try my luck and create one, for one year only, to see what happens and to have some fun. I knew we had to offer a special QSL card and/or certificate plus have on hand a printer and supplies. The hard part was deciding what the event would commemorate and when to do this. I needed a theme that all could relate to and the event would have to be the type with multiple event stations involved, like the ARRL Sweeps.” “Then it hit me...13 colony states, during the 4th of July week and offer a certificate with the theme for the year. I made sure the theme was different each year with a different certificate design, to make it interesting and to also make the cert collectable. The theme would highlight some event or thing connected to the American Revolution.” “The inaugural event was held July 1st to the 4th, 2009, 4 days, with no advertising except on QRZ. I had a hard time getting 13 different ops, one from each colony state, but it worked out. All in all it was a success!” Amateur radio operators and SWLs can participate in the event. Complete information about the call for each colony station and the bonus stations can be found on the event website or on Facebook at 13 Colonies Special Event Community. WEEKEND EDITION: The balloon made it over North Korea and is now over Japan Saturday morning.... AMSAT Designates SO-125 New FM Repeater SatelliteAMSAT has designated the recently launched HADES-ICM satellite as SO-125 (Spain-OSCAR 125). SO-125 was launched from a Falcon 9 rocket as HADES-ICM in March of this year. The satellite is a 1.5U PocketQube and contains an SDR based FM and digital repeater for amateur radio use.
Source: AMSAT Amateur Radio Daily – Read More ARRL Accepting Amateur Radio Grant Applications
Amateur radio organizations may apply here. Source: ARRL Amateur Radio Daily – Read More
Casting Shade on “Shade-Tolerant” Solar PanelsShade is the mortal enemy of solar panels; even a little shade can cause a disproportionate drop in power output. [Alex Beale] reviewed a “revolutionary” shade-tolerant panel by Renology in a video embedded below. The results are fascinating. While shading large portions of the panels using cardboard to cut off rows of cells, or columns of cells, the shade tolerant panel does very well compared to the standard panel– but when natural, uneven shading is applied to the panel, very little difference is seen between the standard and active panels in [Alex]’s test. We suspect there must be some active components to keep power flowing around shaded cells in the Renology panel, allowing it to perform well in the cardboard tests. When the whole panel is partially shaded, there’s no routing around it, and it performs normally. It’s hard to see a real-world case that would justify the extra cost, since most shading doesn’t come with perfect straight-line cutoffs. Especially considering the added cost for this “shade tolerant” technology (roughly double normal panels). You might see a better boost by cooling your solar panels. Of course you can’t forget to optimize the output with MPPT. It’s possible that a better MPPT setup might have let the Renology panel shine in this video, but we’re not certain. Whatever panels you’re using, though, don’t forget to keep them clean. Blog – Hackaday Read More Amateur Radio Newsline Report
THURSDAY EDITON: Well the little balloon keeps chugging, it can't decide whether to go to Mongolia or China....The repeater keeps kicking out with the amplifier in line, I am thinking thermal sensor which trips 3 fans in the Henry 100 watt amplifier. I went up with a heat gun and heated the shit out of it, no fans. I jumped the thermal switch, fans go on. I soldered a jumper in and will put he amplifier back inline, I hope the final transistors didn't suffer any damage but time will tell today. Always something....
I spend more time at the repeater site than I actually use the damn repeater... Club fills demand for ham radio training on Whidbey IslandWhen disaster strikes, knowing how to communicate across the airwaves is an invaluable skill. When disaster strikes, knowing how to communicate across the airwaves is an invaluable skill that could end up being a big help in a crisis. It’s also a hobby that provides plenty of opportunities for socializing and exchanging information. But before getting into the ham radio scene, a technician license must be obtained. In response to overwhelming interest generated by the recent emergency preparedness conference hosted by South Whidbey Fire/EMS, instructors from the Island County Amateur Radio Club are leading a three-day class in the Bayview fire station’s classroom. The classes run 6 to 9 p.m. June 6 and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 7 and 8. Participants will learn how to pass the exam — which will be administered Sunday afternoon — for the technician license. “We’ve had people walk in having no interest whatsoever, pick it up and pass the test,” said Bob Keeton, one of the instructors. He recalled one time when another instructor’s wife spent about an hour thumbing through the manual for the class while waiting in the parking lot. She walked into the classroom and passed the test that day. “Not everybody can do that, but it’s also not a college final here,” Keeton said. He encourages people to get the ARRL Ham Radio License Manual 5th Edition before attending the class so they can get some extra study time in. The book will also be available during the upcoming class. To sign up, reach out to southwhidbeyprepares@whidbey.com to obtain the Google Form for registration or visit w7avm.org/training to fill out a form and specify the June class. The testing fee is $15. Keeton, a retired police officer who lives in Oak Harbor, is the volunteer civilian coordinator for Island County Department of Emergency Management and amateur radio operators in case of a catastrophic situation such as the Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. He has been helping members of the newly formed South Whidbey Prepares group to get their technician licenses so they can become part of the ham radio network. Keeton has been doing amateur radio for the past 25 years, but said he is very new at it compared with a lot of other people in the county. Depending on budget, a person can spend anywhere from $25 to $2,500 on a ham radio. Some can be ordered from Amazon, while others come from specialty shops. “New hams” are encouraged to come to a field day event June 28-29 at the Greenbank Progressive Club, where they will gather with others to simulate emergency radio operations. It’s also a contest to contact other groups doing the same thing in their communities across the U.S., Keeton said. In case of “the Big One,” amateur radio operators can take care of themselves and neighbors by reporting damage and finding out what’s happening in other areas. “Island County and specifically Whidbey could be a real mess,” Keeton said. “The bridge could be gone, probably will be gone.” It also provides an outlet for people to express their needs and wants and to discuss their problems. But more than just being helpful in an emergency scenario, ham radio is a fascinating pastime.
WEDNESDAY EDITION: The balloon is still up and headed slowly towards Mongolia, quite a flight so far...... Northern Lights are a headache, and maybe even a danger, for amateur radio operatorsPlenty of camera buffs and astronomy fans are excited about the possibility of seeing Northern Lights tonight, June 2, but amateur radio operator are even more excited than that. Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, occur after the sun produces an unusual amount of charged particles (known as a coronal mass ejection or CME) in a geomagnetic storm. These particles hit the ionosphere, the charged layer of Earth’s atmosphere, and create interesting visual effects. However, the CME also changes the ionosphere in unpredictable ways. Amateur radio, often called ham radio, bounces signals off the ionosphere, which allows operators to contact each other from thousands of miles away. During a strong geomagnetic storm – the current one is rated 4 on 1-to-5 scale by the National Space Weather Prediction Center – amateur radio is often disrupted, with operators unable to reach channels that are normally available. At the very worst, a strong geomagnetic storm can distort Earth’s magnetic field to the point that large conducting wires or antennas can have electric currents induced in them, putting equipment at risk. While this is extremely rare, the Contoocook Valley Radio Club has issued a caution that high-frequency-antenna owners may want to disconnect their rigs until the CME event has passed because of the possibility of damage. Northern Lights are expected to be visible in much of New Hampshire on Monday night. They are best viewed well after midnight from a high point with an unobstructed view to the north. Ham Radio Ireland MagazineThe following is from Steve (EI5DD), the editor of Ham Radio Ireland Magazine. Ham Radio Ireland Magazine, a free E-Magazine is published every second month. It is Ireland's only independent freelance Amateur Radio Magazine geared towards all radio and electronics experimenters. Each month we strive to include all facets of the hobby and include CB, PMR 446, and POC radio information in addition to our regular Ham Radio articles. Ham Radio Ireland has gone from strength to strength and we are reaching out to clubs and groups globally. Our Authors are not just form Ireland as we receive articles from many parts of the world. Ham Radio Ireland Magazine isn't just about technical content. Our team of writers and editors are also passionate about the social and cultural aspects of the hobby, and we regularly promote activities of Radio Clubs all around Ireland and overseas. Our magazine is distributed to social media sites and available for all to download. Our Magazine is free of charge. We are unbiased and inclusive. We are not affiliated to any club or society so there is no mutual backslapping we just get on with and enjoy the hobby! Check out our Facebook Page Ham Radio Ireland. Recently we have included links to a "Flip-Book" version of the magazine although we still retain our PDF repository on DocDroid. Links to current and back issues in PDF format and, more recently in Flip-book format, may be found at https://galwayvhfgroup.blogspot.com/2022/06/connacht-regional-radio-newsletter.html The editor is Steve Wright New Bismuth Transistor Runs 40% Faster and Uses 10% Less PowerRecently in material science news from China we hear that [Hailin Peng] and his team at Peking University just made the world’s fastest transistor and it’s not made of silicon. Before we tell you about this transistor made from bismuth here’s a whirlwind tour of the history of the transistor. The Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT, such as NPN and PNP) was invented by Bell Labs in 1947. Later came Transistor-Transistor Logic (TTL) made with BJTs. The problem with TTL was too much power consumption. Enter the energy-efficient Field-Effect Transistor (FET). The FET is better suited to processing information as it is voltage-controlled, unlike the BJT which is current-controlled. Advantages of FETs include high input impedance, low power consumption, fast switching speed, being well suited to Very-Large-Scale Integration (VLSI), etc. The cornerstone of Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) technology which came to replace TTL was a type of FET known as the Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET). The type of MOSFET most commonly used in CMOS integrated circuits is the Enhancement-mode MOSFET which is normally off and needs gate voltage to conduct. A transistor’s technology generation is given with the “process node”, in nanometers (nm). This used to mean the size of the smallest feature that could be fabricated, but these days it’s just a marketing term (smaller is “better”). Planar CMOS MOSFETs were initially dominant (through ~28nm), then came SOI MOSFETs (28nm to 16nm), then FinFETs (16nm to 5nm), and now finally Gate-All-Around FETs (GAAFETs, 3nm and beyond). All of that in order to say that this new transistor from [Hailin Peng] and his team is a GAAFET. It’s made from bismuth oxyselenide (Bi₂O₂Se) for the channel, and bismuth selenite oxide (Bi₂SeO₅) as the gate material. See the article for further details. Keep in mind that at this point in time we only have a prototype from a lab and the gory details about how to mass-produce these things, assuming that’s even possible, haven’t yet been worked out. We have previously discussed the difficulty of manufacturing state-of-the-art transistors. If you’re interested in bismuth be sure to check out how to use bismuth for desoldering. Blog – Hackaday Read More
TUESDAY EDITION: The balloon has escaped from Turkey and is on the road again towards Mongolia. A lot of fun for just a $100 investment....A colossal cloud of Sahara dust is smothering the Caribbean en route to the US, if band conditions weren't bad enough
Testing a Cheap Bench Power Supply Sold on AmazonWe’ve all seen those cheap bench power supply units (PSUs) for sale online, promising specifications that would cost at least a hundred dollars or more if it were a name brand model. Just how much of a compromise are these (usually rebranded) PSUs, and should you trust them with your electronics? Recently [Denki Otaku] purchased a cheap unit off Amazon Japan for a closer look, and found it to be rather lacking.
Major compromises include the lack of an output power switch, no way to check the set current limit without shorting the output, very slow drop in output voltage while adjusting due to the lack of a discharge circuit, and other usability concerns. That’s when the electrical performance of the PSU got tested. Right off the bat a major issue in this cheap switching mode PSU is clear, as it has 200 mV peak-to-peak noise on its output, meaning very little output filtering. The maximum power output rating was also far too optimistic, with a large voltage drop observed. Despite this, it generally worked well, and the internals – with a big aluminium plate as heatsink – look pretty clean with an interesting architecture. The general advice is to get a bench PSU that has features like an output power button and an easy way to set the voltage and current limits. Also do not connect it to anything that cares about noise and ripple unless you know that it produces clean, filtered output voltages. Blog – Hackaday Read More
MONDAY EDITION: Looks like our balloon is stuck in Turkey, it must be enjoying the smoke from the hash pipes.... Semiconductor Simulator Lets Your Play IC DesignerFor circuit simulation, we have always been enthralled with the Falstad simulator which is a simple, Spice-like simulator that runs in the browser. [Brandon] has a simulator, too, but it simulates semiconductor devices. With help from [Paul Falstad], that simulator also runs in the browser. This simulator takes a little thinking and lets you build devices as you might on an IC die. The key is to use the dropdown that initially says “Interact” to select a tool. Then, the drop-down below lets you select what you are drawing, which can be a voltage source, metal, or various materials you find in semiconductor devices, like n-type or a dielectric. It is a bit tricky, but if you check out the examples first (like this diode), it gets easier. The main page has many examples. You can even build up entire subsystems like a ring oscillator or a DRAM cell. Designing at this level has its own quirks. For example, in the real world, you think of resistors as something you can use with great precision, and capacitors are often “sloppy.” On an IC substrate, resistors are often the sloppy component. While capacitor values might not be exact, it is very easy to get an extremely precise ratio of two capacitors because the plate size is tightly controlled. This leads to a different mindset than you are used to when designing with discrete components. Of course, this is just a simulation, so everything can be perfect. If, for some reason, you don’t know about the Falstad simulator, check it out now.
For sale: Yaesu FT-950 like new...very few hours on it, a backup to the backup radio. Mike, bound manual, power cord- $500 firm- will not ship, pickup in Rockport, MA or at HRO Salem, NH by arrangement
WEEKEND EDITION: Position of balloon on Saturday morning, it must like Turkey, it can't get out of there.... Hamvention 2025 Sets Attendance RecordHamvention has released attendance numbers for 2025, and once again, the premier ham radio event has set an attendance record. For 2025, the official attendance was counted at 36,814. Compared with 2024’s attendance numbers of 35,877, that’s an increase of 937 attendees over last year. This marks two years in a row of record setting attendance at Hamvention. Source: Dayton Hamvention Amateur Radio Daily – Read More A Gentle Introduction to ImpedanceImpedance matching is one of the perpetual confusions for new electronics students, and for good reason: the idea that increasing the impedance of a circuit can lead to more power transmission is frighteningly unintuitive at first glance. Even once you understand this, designing a circuit with impedance matching is a tricky task, and it’s here that [Ralph Gable]’s introduction to impedance matching is helpful. The goal of impedance matching is to maximize the amount of power transmitted from a source to a load. In some simple situations, resistance is the only significant component in impedance, and it’s possible to match impedance just by matching resistance. In most situations, though, capacitance and inductance will add a reactive component to the impedance, in which case it becomes necessary to use the complex conjugate for impedance matching. The video goes over this theory briefly, but it’s real focus is on explaining how to read a Smith chart, an intimidating-looking tool which can be used to calculate impedances. The video covers the basic impedance-only Smith chart, as well as a full-color Smith chart which indicates both impedance and admittance. This video is the introduction to a planned series on impedance matching, and beyond reading Smith charts, it doesn’t really get into many specifics. However, based on the clear explanations so far, it could be worth waiting for the rest of the series. If you’re interested in more practical details, we’ve also covered another example before. Blog – Hackaday Read More FRIDAY EDITION: The balloon left Greece and is touring Turkey if I have my geography right......
Amateur Radio
Newsline Report THURSDAY EDITION: The little balloon is visiting Greece this morning. .... NASA Is Shutting Down the International Space Station Sighting WebsiteStarting on June 12, 2025, the NASA Spot the Station website will no longer provide ISS sighting information, per a message recently sent out. This means no information on sighting opportunities provided on the website, nor will users subscribed via the website receive email or text notifications. Instead anyone interested in this kind of information will have to download the mobile app for iOS or Android. Obviously this has people, like [Keith Cowing] over at Nasa Watch, rather disappointed, due to how the website has been this easy to use resource that anyone could access, even without access to a smart phone. Although the assumption is often made that everyone has their own personal iOS or Android powered glass slab with them, one can think of communal settings where an internet café is the sole form of internet access. There is also the consideration that for children a website like this would be much easier to access. They would now see this opportunity vanish. With smart phone apps hardly a replacement for a website of this type, it’s easy to see how the app-ification of the WWW continues, at the cost of us users. Blog – Hackaday Read More
2 meter antenna most hams could make.....I think! WEDNESDAY EDITION: The balloon did a lot of traveling last night and so far today, it's over England!. Total cost of balloon, transmitter, and solar cells under $50.00....
You can
track this new
balloon at:
13 Colonies Special Event July 1 – 7In just a few weeks, one of the most popular summer operating events kicks off – The 13 Colonies Special Event. Now in its 17 year the event has grown from Special Event Stations making approximately 12,000 contacts in 2009 to last year making 292,496 contacts around the world. The Event runs from July 1 9:00 AM – July 7 Midnight Eastern (July 1 – 1300 UTC – July 8 – 0400 UTC). This year Event organizers are recognizing the 13 Colonies Special Event founder Ken Villone, KU2US, who is passing the torch on to Tony Jones, N4ATJ. For the past 16 years Villone has lead the Event by working with state and bonus station coordinators. Then after the event he would print out individual certificates for thousands of people who made contact with the special event stations. The Special Event consist of one station operating in each of the 13 Colonies (K2A – K2M) and three bonus stations (WM3PEN – Philadelphia, GB13COL – England, TM13COL – France) each representing their city, state, or countries role in America’s Colonial period. Villone describes how the event got started: “I had just finished participating in the ARRL Sweepstakes in 2008, and remarked how fun it was. I could not figure out why there were not more of these type special events on the air? So I decided to try my luck and create one for one year only to see what happens and to have some fun. I knew we had to offer a special QSL card and/or certificate plus have on hand a printer and supplies. The hard part was deciding what the event would commemorate and when to do this. I needed a theme that ALL could relate to! Also the event would have to be the type with multiple event stations involved, like the ARRL Sweeps. Then it hit me! 13 Colonies states, during the 4th of July week and offer a certificate with the theme for the year. I made sure the theme was different each year with a different certificate design, to make it interesting and to also make the cert collectable. The theme would highlight some event or thing connected to the American Revolution. The event was held July 1st to the 4th, 2009, 4 days with no advertising except on QRZ. I had a hard time getting 13 different Ops, one from each Colony state but it worked out. All in all it was a success! We did over 12,000 contacts the first year. I decided we have a good thing going so I recruited another Op from each state and ran the event the next year in 2010. We did over 32,000 contacts in 2010, and had 26 state operators total. There was a 13 Colonies special event in 1962 but only lasted one year, according to my research. (I was 13 years old).” Ham Radio operators and SWLs can participate in the event. Complete information about the call for each colony station and the bonus stations can be found on the event website 13colonies.us and they can follow us on Facebook – 13 Colonies Special Event Community. Stations need only make one contact with one of the participating stations or they can go for a Clean Sweep and work all 13 Colony stations and the 3 bonus stations. Each station offers a special QSL card for the event as well as a different certificate each year. Operators can keep an eye out for the special event stations by watching many of the dx spotting networks such as DXSummit.fi. Mylar Space Blankets As RF ReflectorsMetalized Mylar “space blankets” are sold as a survivalist’s accessory, primarily due to their propensity for reflecting heat. They’re pretty cheap, and [HamJazz] has performed some experiments on their RF properties. Do they reflect radio waves as well as they reflect heat? As it turns out, yes they do. Any antenna system that’s more than a simple radiator relies on using conductive components as reflectors. These can either be antenna elements, or the surrounding ground acting as an approximation to a conductor. Radio amateurs will often use wires laid on the ground or buried within it to improve its RF conductivity, and it’s in this function that he’s using the Mylar sheet. Connection to the metalized layer is made with a magnet and some aluminium tape, and the sheet is strung up from a line at an angle. It’s a solution for higher frequencies only due to the restricted size of the thing, but it’s certainly interesting enough to merit further experimentation. As you can see in the video below, his results are derived in a rough and ready manner with a field strength meter. But they certainly show a much stronger field on one side resulting from the Mylar, and also in an antenna that tunes well. We would be interested to conduct a received signal strength test over a much greater distance rather than a high-level field strength test so close to the antenna, but it’s interesting to have a use for a space blanket that’s more than just keeping the sun away from your tent at a hacker camp. Perhaps it could even form a parabolic antenna. Blog – Hackaday Read More TUESDAY EDITION: Above is a screen shot of the launched balloon, the straight line is the night flight- no sun so the transmitter is silent... Club member email:
Just a heads up
(no pun
intended) about
our latest pico
balloon launch
that took place
this morning
around 9AM from
Pony Express
Fields in Essex
to celebrate
Memorial Day.
You can
track this new
balloon at:
We are
transmitting on
the fours :04;
:14, :24, etc.
using WSPR aka
Weak Signal
Propagation
Reporting on 20m
at 14.09718MHz
at 10mW as NQ1W.
Wish us luck as
this one was a
bit of a last
minute hail mary
and has some
quirky balloon
characteristics.
We're not
expecting a lot
but gave it a
shot anyway
since we
probably
won't get
another window
until after
hurricane
season. We
checked the
winds this
morning and saw
a straight shot
out over the
Atlantic and
rolled the dice.
We'll do more of
these in the
future and hope
you'll get
involved with us
tracking or
building one of
your own!
Regards and 73!
Brandon NQ1W
PRC319 Loaner Program
You have probably seen my PRC319 in action… https://www.eham.net/article/48934 PRC319 Loaner Program: This PRC319 is a Free 'Loaner' available to any ham in the USA. It is Not For Sale. If
you have been
wanting to try one
out, or use it for a
club presentation,
here is your chance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCXb2M66fro or read g0ozs's web site at: https://g0ozs.co.uk/mdwiki/clansman/#prc319.md The 319 is a
fixed frequency,
channelized HF
radio, so there is
no tuning around. It
runs CW, SSB or Data
at 5W or 50W. When it becomes available, I will notify you and you will then send me $100for initial shipping. You must pay for the shipping both ways (about $200 in total). I will refund any
excess shipping
fees. Alternate Plan: You can reserve it for your 2-week vacation to Colorado and pick it up in COS and deliver it or ship it back. Pick it up, use it for POTA/SOTA's and return it all free Sorry, no
shipments can be
made outside of the
CONUS. (Not
available to FL, AK,
HI, or PR). You must use your own key/keyer. It can only ship UPS because of the battery restrictions. You must have a
General or
higher-class FCC
license and be
listed in the FCC
database. This 319 was donated to the '319 Loaner Program' by Clare Owens Jr, N2RJB, Apex, NC. and accessories by Al G8LIT. Reply direct to Paul Signorelli W0RW Colorado Springs, CO 80905
MEMORIAL DAY EDITION: The sun is out and the local parade is on, it ends in the cemetery with a speech and a rifle salute to the lost hero's....
HamTV Installation on ISS Scheduled for JuneARISS reports that HamTV is scheduled to be installed on the International Space Station in late June. Originally installed in 2013, HamTV has been inactive since the equipment failed in 2019. HamTV has previously been used to facilitate school contacts with ISS astronauts. Source: ARISS Amateur Radio Daily – Read More Inside Starlink’s User TerminalIf you talk about Starlink, you are usually talking about the satellites that orbit the Earth carrying data to and from ground stations. Why not? Space is cool. But there’s another important part of the system: the terminals themselves. Thanks to [DarkNavy], you don’t have to tear one open yourself to see what’s inside.
The terminal consists of two parts: the router and the antenna. In this context, antenna is somewhat of a misnomer, since it is really the RF transceiver and antenna all together. The post looks only at the “antenna” part of the terminal. The unit is 100% full of printed circuit board with many RF chips and a custom ST Microelectronics Cortex A-53 quad-core CPU. There was a hack to gain root shell on the device. This led to SpaceX disabling the UART via a firmware update. However, there is still a way to break in. [DarkNavy] wanted to look at the code, too, but there was no easy way to dump the flash memory. Desoldering the eMMC chip and reading it was, however, productive. The next step was to create a virtual environment to run the software under Qemu. There were a few security questions raised. We wouldn’t call them red flags, per see, but maybe pink flags. For example, there are 41 trusted ssh keys placed in the device’s authorized_keys file. That seems like a lot for a production device on your network, but it isn’t any smoking gun. We’ve watched the cat-and-mouse between Starlink and people hacking the receivers with interest. Blog – Hackaday Read More New Book Release: Using the Baofeng® Radio.....is this a joke?– Your Guide to a Handheld Ham Radio Using the Baofeng® Radio is a comprehensive gateway to the world of ham radio using Baofengs. It gives you everything you need to start using your handheld ham radio on the air legally, safely, and effectively. Get ready to use your radio to stay in touch with family and friends whether you are off the road, off the grid, or you want access to a reliable backup communication device. Discover uses for your ham radio, including how to relay your signal through a mountaintop repeater so you are heard far away, and a step-by-step guide to digital operations. The book details operating with the popular UV-5R, the rugged UV-82, and the DMR-enabled DR-1801UV. Using the Baofeng® Radio covers how to program and use your radio with only the front panel and built-in settings. It then elaborates on using the free programming software CHIRP to program memory channels using a laptop or home computer. Finally, it describes how to program your radio to communicate around the world using Digital Mobile Radio (DMR), which you can access through repeaters or mobile hotspots. To prepare you for new activities and adventures, Using the Baofeng® Radio provides detailed information on your radio’s settings screens. It also includes cheat sheets with the most frequently used settings and helpful tips from longtime Baofeng user and ham radio enthusiast John Leonardelli, VE3IPS. Using the Baofeng® Radio is now shipping. Order from the ARRL online store or find an ARRL publication dealer; ARRL Item No. 2240, ISBN: 978-1-62595-224-0, $19.95 retail. For additional questions or ordering, call 1-888-277-5289 toll-free in the US, Monday through Thursday 8 AM to 7 PM and Friday 8 AM to 5 PM Eastern Time. Outside the US, call (860) 594-0200. Five Oddest Op Amp ApplicationsYou think of op amps as amplifiers because, no kidding, it is right in the name. But just like some people say, “you could do that with a 555,” [Doctor Volt] might say, “you can do that with an op amp.” In a recent video, you can see below, he looks at simulations and breadboards for five applications that aren’t traditional amplifiers. Of course, you can split hairs. A comparator is sort of an amplifier with some very specific parameters, but it isn’t an amplifier in the classic sense. In addition to comparators, there’s a flip flop, a few oscillators, and a PWM audio over optical transmitter and receiver. If you want to test your understanding of op amps, you can try to analyze the different circuits to see if you can explain how they work. Op amps are amazing for analog design since you don’t have to build up high-quality amplifier blocks from discrete devices. Even the worst op amp you can buy is probably better than something you have the patience to design in a few minutes with a FET or a bipolar device. Fair to say that we do enjoy these oddball op amp circuits. Blog – Hackaday Read More Highlights from 2025 Dayton HamventionARRL interacted with thousands of members at 2025 Dayton Hamvention®, held May 16-18 in Xenia, Ohio. There were many ARRL programs and services available to visitors to the ARRL Expo area. The ARRL Youth Lounge was busy throughout the event, and “the kids were loving it,” according to Education and Learning Manager Steve Goodgame, K5ATA, who pointed out that the young visitors were building code keys from 3D-printed kits and testing them out by sending messages. Saturday’s ARRL Youth Rally saw several dozen young people get engaged with a day of ham radio fun. The Youth Rally actually extended into Sunday, with the kids contacting skydiver Carlos Ortiz, K9OL, as he parachuted to the ground with a handheld radio. A little later, they launched an APRS-equipped balloon, W1AW-11, on a hopefully round-the-world trip. It flew into Africa on Thursday afternoon after crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Back at Hamvention, the ARRL Collegiate Amateur Radio Program booth was a flurry of activity with young adult hams for the whole weekend. ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, was on hand to help members renew their licenses and to encourage ARRL VE teams to migrate to the all-digital exam system offered by Exam Tools. She noted that it streamlined the process for VEs because there was nothing to mail after a session. The ARRL Lab tested more than 170 radios in the booth, including a handheld radio that fell 14,000 feet (Yes, it was K9OL’s!). It not only survived the fall in working condition but still passed the spectral purity test. The chance to visit with members was encouraging for ARRL Digital RF Engineer John McAuliffe, W1DRF, saying “It was nice to have one-to-one with members who don’t normally have direct contact with the lab.” Many members stopped in to see the ARRL Icom Dream Station that one eligible member (see how you can earn entries here) is going to win. The grand prize for the ARRL Sweepstakes, an Icom IC-7760, sat on display in a glass case at the booth. ARRL-sponsored forums were popular, especially a new one: Salty Walt’s Portable Antenna Forum saw a packed house. “Salty Walt” Hudson, K4OGO, also had long lines to visit with him and get a signed copy of his new ARRL book, Salty Walt’s Portable Antenna Sketchbook. The book, which made its debut at Hamvention, shows examples of successful antennas that Salty Walt has created for his fun seaside operating sessions. Salty Walt has amassed a large following on YouTube by bringing viewers along on his adventures and sharing his down-to-earth approach to tinkering. “What you saw in that forum,” said Hudson, “is where hams are today. What I try to do is simplify things. Go out, try, do, make mistakes. That’s what my YouTube channel is all about.”
Amateur Radio
Newsline Report
FRIDAY EDITION: Well it blew pretty good last night on the island, 50mph gusts but the antenna farm lives thru another one... JUST IN: Amateur Spectrum Addressed in US House Reconciliation BillARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® reports that early this morning, May 22, 2025, the US House of Representatives passed a massive Reconciliation bill with the below spectrum provisions relevant to Amateur Radio.
With regard to Amateur spectrum, the bands that potentially could be subject to consideration for reallocation under this legislation are 13 cm (2300 – 2310 & 2390 – 2450 MHz) and 5 cm (5650 – 5925 MHz). At this time a number of bands have been mentioned informally for consideration, none of which include Amateur spectrum. But the bands under consideration could change and ARRL will closely monitor the evolving situation. Additionally, some government operations may be required to consolidate in current Amateur secondary spectrum that is already shared with those government uses. In select instances this might constrain Amateur operations if such consolidation occurs. It is to be emphasized that these provisions have been passed by the House, but key US Senators have not agreed to some aspects and have stated their intention to modify these provisions as the bill moves through Senate consideration. The stated goal for final enactment is by July 4, 2025. Milwaukee's 'ham radio' hobbyists are keeping amateur broadcasting alive
When radio first emerged, it was the Wild West of communication technology. Pioneers in the industry learned firsthand how to wrangle the power of this new tech by tapping into the radio frequency spectrum. These radio enthusiasts — or "hams" — set up their own amateur radio stations to communicate with other hobbyists around the world. Locally, the Milwaukee Radio Amateurs' Club and Ham Radio Outlet serve as hubs for a dedicated community of aficionados who are keeping ham radio alive in the digital age. Journalist Tea Krulos wrote about them in this month’s Milwaukee Magazine, and he joins Lake Effect’s Joy Powers to share more. He says ham radio is almost like an early form of social media. "In the same way that you might be curious about connecting with other people online, this was kind of a spin of the roulette wheel," he says. "You never knew who you were going to talk to, but you could have these conversations with interesting people all over the country and the world." Through his grandfather, a carpenter who loved to tinker with radio equipment in his spare time, Krulos has a personal connection to the ham radio community. He says his grandparents' home had a room dedicated to radio equipment that Krulos' grandfather called his "ham shack." "I have this fond memory of walking through the hallway," he says. "And I would hear this very distinct sound of my grandfather snoring because he had fallen asleep while talking on the radio and the sort of staticky crackle of people talking in the background." THURSDAY EDITION: We are waiting for the NorEaster to hit later in the day, no big deal with no snow and just rain...Buy bitcoins they said.... An F-35 stealth fighter flying in Texas sent classified data to an air base 5,000 miles away in DenmarkThe US defense contractor Lockheed Martin said one of its F-35 stealth fighters sent classified data from Texas to a command center about 5,000 miles away in Denmark, calling this a milestone and a successful demonstration of how systems work together. Danish military F-35s flying out of Fort Worth exported the data via DAGGR-2, made by Lockheed’s Advanced Development Programs, also known as Skunk Works. The command-and-control system then passed the classified information through commercial satellite communications to Denmark’s Skrydstrup Air Base. In a statement on Monday, Lockheed said that “this is another success in a series of Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) demonstrations proving the F-35’s ability to serve as a powerful force multiplier, enabling allied forces to rapidly deploy ready-now capabilities to connect systems across the battlespace.” Read more – Business Insider: https://bit.ly/4dLldZf Make Your Own Telescope, Right Down To The Glass
Telescopes are great tools for observing the heavens, or even surrounding landscapes if you have the right vantage point. You don’t have to be a professional to build one though; you can make all kinds of telescopes as an amateur, as this guide from the Springfield Telesfcope Makers demonstrates. The guide is remarkably deep and rich; no surprise given that the Springfield Telescope Makers club dates back to the early 20th century. It starts out with the basics—how to select a telescope, and how to decide whether to make or buy your desired instrument. It also explains in good detail why you might want to start with a simple Newtonian reflector setup on Dobsonian mounts if you’re crafting your first telescope, in no small part because mirrors are so much easier to craft than lenses for the amateur. From there, the guide gets into the nitty gritty of mirror production, right down to grinding and polishing techniques, as well as how to test your optical components and assemble your final telescope. It’s hard to imagine a better place to start than here as an amateur telescope builder. It’s a rich mine of experience and practical advice that should give you the best possible chance of success. You might also like to peruse some of the other telescope projects we’ve covered previously. And, if you succeed, you can always tell us of your tales on the tipsline! Blog – Hackaday Read More HAMS YOU MIGHT KNOW- ALIVE AND SK K1TP-
Jon....Editor of As The World
Turns....
SILENT KEYS Silet Key
KA1BXB-Don...Regular
on 3900 mornings....just
don't
mention
politics
to
him,
please! |